Bad Bunny‘s Super Bowl halftime show — or the “Benito Bowl,” as it was affectionally named by his fans — reached an average of 128.2 million viewers on Sunday.
Measured by Nielsen, that’s above the 124.9 million average viewers achieved by this year’s Super Bowl overall but down from the 133.5 million viewers achieved by Kendrick Lamar, who set the record last year. Before Lamar, the record was held by Usher for his 2024 performance.
The halftime show began making headlines months before the big game was even played, both because of Bad Bunny’s status as one of the world’s most popular recording artists in the world right now and because of complaints from right-wing commentators about his penchant for centering his Puerto Rican heritage in his work. Turning Point USA, the conservative group co-founded by the late Charlie Kirk, produced its own alternative halftime show “for folks who love America,” per headliner Kid Rock. Ultimately, TPUSA was unable to compete: the New York Times reported that the YouTube livestream peaked with 6.1 million viewers during the show, and it has since reached 21 million viewers — compared to Bad Bunny’s massive viewership on Sunday and 57 million YouTube views.
Highlights from Bad Bunny’s performance included a real wedding, several stunts, appearances from Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin, 380 people dressed like grass and more. Read Variety‘s interview breaking down the biggest moments with the halftime show’s producers here.
More to come…
From Variety US
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